project updates... plus complaining

so, the only project i have on any needles is my irish hiking scarf. i remember when i first started it, it went really fast cuz i felt extremely motivated. but then i started all sorts of different projects, and this one's just been dragging. right now it's 47" or so long, but i still don't know how long i want it to be. i'm kinda pissed that it has two mistakes in it, but one is near the beginning and i never felt like frogging everything to fix it - it's not all that noticeable if you don't know it's there, i guess. of course, the next mistake was the same kind of mistake. on the part where i have to do the cable, when i knit off the cable needle, i guess i got the stitches twisted, so the thing looks kinda funny... damn...
oh, and knitting's been messing up my fingers like crazy. at first it was just a couple callouses from where my fingers push the needles. but then my pinky, on which i wrap around the yarn, started to get tight - i guess i might be wrapping the yarn too tightly around it, i dunno... but what's worse is my pointer finger on my left hand - it's become so jacked up that after i sleep i wake up with it not being able to straighten out, so i have to make it straighten and it still bends funny for a time after. i've taken to sleeping with gloves on to keep my hands warmer at night, and it seems to have helped, but this sucks! it's definitely slowed down any projects. like for example, when i first was doing my ravenclaw scarf, i could do 1 trapped bar section a day without spending too much time on it, so i thought i'd be able to whip the thing out in about 2 weeks... it ended up taking over three, not even counting the blocking and fringing... :( oh well
eta: my irish hiking scarf is now 50" long, but of course along the way i once again twisted one of the cables... damn this thing is driving me crazy!